Unknown man: So when you were living on this ranch, how often would somebody get to town?
To get mail, or to bring the mail in?
Betty: Well, that again depended on the time of ah. . . time of year. Nobody brought it in, we had to go get it. Ah. . . we got it at Hooper, and they had a great huge mail sack, like the post offices have, you know—the great big canvas sacks? And the postmistress would put the mail in that each day, and when that sack got clear full, why I guess she'd call dad, and if he could get through the road, he'd go in and get it. Ah. . . we didn't think there was anything unusual about that. We had lots of reading when it. . . when we got it. But ah. . . my father and mother both were avid readers, and I grew up as an avid reader, and it was always great when the mail came. We could hear from ah. . . oh, just about 19. . . probably 1938, we got our first radios. And I can remember, when I was just a little kid, the first time they got a radio in here was back in the thirties, and it had earphones? You had to listen through earphones. And ah. . . they'd split the earphones and one guy could have this one, and you could have that one (laughter) so that everybody could hear. And that was. . . oh, that. . . I can remember how excited they were! My dad especially, because then he would be able to get broadcasts of football games so he could watch. . . listen to those. (Laughs)
Bob: And listen to Del Rio, Texas!
Betty: Del Rio, Texas, yeah. But ah. . . by the time I was a teenager, why radios were common. So we got all our news on the radio, no television at all in those days. But we got our news from radio, so really a lack of mail wasn't that important, because we knew what was going on in the world.
Unknown man: You mentioned that if your father could get to ah. . . to the post office. Was the road often flooded then, or just. . . ?
Betty: The road was often bad. Especially around the lake, right around the lake.
Bob: Around the corner of west. . . of west meadow.
Betty: Around the corner. . . yeah, there was always a mud hole there. And you never knew whether you were going to get through or not. Once you got on around there and were ready to head straight toward Hooper, why then it was pretty good traveling.
Bob: And he. . . and he regulated the irrigation. (Laughs)
Betty: Yeah. That's right.
Unknown man: As far as medical services, you'd have to. . . would there be doctors would come out for house calls, or were there home deliveries, or how would. . . how would you deal with that?
Betty: My mother went back to her folks prior to the birth of the three kids, because there. . . it was quite a problem down here. So she was from Colorado Springs, so she went back in time to where she would be safe there until after the. . . each of us were born, and then she'd come back down here.
Unknown man: So. . . cities are good for one thing—for birthing babies?
Betty: Yeah. At least they had doctors and hospitals.
Bob: And that's what happened to our family. We were born in Colorado Springs where my mother was from.
Betty: I guess that was kind of standard for a lot of the women that moved out. . .
Bob: Yeah. . . and. . .
Betty: They were both, his mother and mine, were both ah. . . city girls, and I think some times they were a little aghast at the primitive conditions that they found themselves in. (Laughter)